Hi Diving Gal Here is how I benefited from Cave training.
About 10 Years ago our local dive club the now defunct Dolfin Divers had a crusty local diver by the name of John Reekie ( yes the guy mentioned in the Last Dive) come in and show us some Video of cave diving in Florida as well as some early stuff on the empress of Ireland.
This was well before it was the "in thing to do" . There was no discovery channel and the Internet didn't exist so none of us had ever seen anything like this before so we were absolutely stunned and amazed.
A couple of my buddies went to Florida shortly there after and took their Cavern and Intro course From Pete Butt and Dustin Clesy at Steamboat Dive Inn.
When they got back we heard all about it and soon saw a big improvement in how they dove. ( read envy here)
We would all be amazed at how they could swim along the bottom just barely above it and not even disturb a leaf or dab of clay. A few people said they were crazy and dangerous but most of us just saw the skills they had acquired.
Later that year I took the trip down and signed up for a Cavern course with Dustin as I wasn't quite sure about going in any farther than where I could see light.
The class was a major eye opener for me as I had my mind opened to how to dive safely in an overhead environment and I began to think about diving in a diferent way. The image of the sign in Devils Eye cave which said - STOP PREVENT YOUR DEATH - is a very powerfull memory for me to this day.
At the end of the two days I recieved my Cavern card and I was quite proud of myself, butvery dissapointed that I had to leave. I REALLY, REALLY wanted to continue on with Intro to Cave but we had other places still to Visit ( Damned stupid Mouse).
That summer my diving improved greatly with the cavern training and I soon went back and finished my Intro to cave where I got more training. ( by the way this was still with a Jacket BC, multiple trim weights and a Y-valved 95).
Again I saw improvements with my diving as well as my thought processes and dive planning. I now planned every dive as if I had 30 ft of rock over my head and this helped me continue to evolve my skills and comfort level.
5 years ago I finally went and finished my apprentice and full cave with Shelley and John Orlowski from Aquaspeleo. I finally had all the gear to do it properly (although in retrospect, I think opening a dive shop was an expensive way to do it).
As you can see from my little story you can go about doing it in steps and bring the new skills to play gradually as you continue to dive. Cavern may be all you want to do or you may choose to do more. Notice the words YOU and MAY CHOOSE, never take a course because someone else wants you to.
In my case it was mostly a scheduling issue but the time spent in between each module certainly gave me lots of time to practice and for me it worked out very well. I tell my students not to be in a rush as that hole in the ground isn't going anywhere.
This winter we will once again be taking a small invite only type group down to Florida to do cavern and Intro to cave courses with a local Florida instructor ( they dive it every day so they are the best). When they come back they generally have improved the way they dive substatially.
Some of these skills include:
- Buoyancy control and trim
- Positon relative to objects.
- Dealing with current.
- Proper planning and gas management
- Use of reals
- Problem solving while underwater.
-Personal equipment configuration ( you notice I do not use the word DIR)
-Touch contact and underwater communication.
- Emergency drills.
- and more which others can certainly add....
This is what I experianced and gained from it and others have there own reasons for taking cave training. As long as they are doing it for the right reasons ( ie becoming a better diver) and not just bragging rights it is a great specialty you wll benefit from the rest of your diving days.
Hope this wasn't too long...
